The Hand of Dusk
In Corporate SINs The Hand of Dusk is the mysterious organization furthering the goals of Brennus Ciaradh. MMFEC sought them when the Draco Foundation became curious about them, fought them, and ultimately started working for them while trying to wrap around their goals. Getting HOD's attention The plot around Prince resumed and thickened when Miss J sent MMFEC back on the trail of the Saeder-Krupp executive Elijah BurnettSpelling? who had taken Thoth's drone eye and stored it in a Shiawase warehouse until MMFEC retrieved it. After finding his place and arming themselves with the precious collectibles Elsie had, erm, found alongside Thoth's drone, a trio of cops manage to interview Elijah : good cop Chantal Elsie Dix, bad cop Charlie Cromwell Hammer and pretty (even more so thanks to Mordecai's not-to-be-called-that-way sparkles) cop Jo Ma1nfram3 Lord. Despite Elsie's interviewing skills, Ma1nfram3's retrieval and deciphering of Elijah's secret communications, and Cromwell's cunning remarks, the interview ends with MMFEC convinced that Elijah had been in a plot involving Elijah's Saeder-Krupp, Shiawase (through a certain Bill AkimaSpelling?) and Aztechnology (through a lady named Grace Castillo) as well as two unknown parties (only referred to as Void and HOD in Elijah's files) on election night, but still wondering about the extent of a suspicious Elijah's previous knowledge of the still-mysterious dragon.See . MMFEC split into groups to investigate the 4 leads they had found: * Fang contacted her brother Rahmut CanekSee the source for his name's spelling here. at Aztechnology. During a conversation that alternated between altercation and affection, she learned that Grace Castillo was a Private Security Consultant working at Aztechnology's Pyramid and was going to the same gym as Fang. It would take Fang a long time to drive to the various gyms she knew until it dawned on her that her brother had been referring to the one where the infamous encounter with Krund had taken place months earlier. Fang had not met Grace Castillo by the end of but she could share with MMFEC, talking about her brother, that he loves me! * Ma1nfram3 started on the trail of Void on the Matrix by meeting a group of dragon oriented people in a booth at Jackpoint. The two personas she interacted most with were one in a black trench-coat later referred to as Neo and a Glitter Princess who directed her to a data haven called DIVE (for Draconic Information Virtual Exchange). The Princess also warned Ma1nfram3 that Void is an ass. Not the good kind. The kind in tight jeans''See .. Her virtual encounter with Void's persona, a giant cloak that contains darkness and speaks in a raspy voice, involved failed attempts at seduction, a battle of ''Brute Force, Ma1nfram3's purple dragondescribed as Figment, from EPCOT. persona being marked successfully, and Void revealing information related in one way or another to Prince. Void talked about Hermosillo and an Ejército del Dragón (The Dragon's Army) that had kidnapped an unnamed Aztechnology executive. This led MMFEC, when they regathered at the end of the episodeSee end of . to speculate that the dragon they called Prince was linked to the abductions of several corps' executives (or people in power) and their replacement with clonesAt which point Elsie reminded the group that, when she did a run for them at Sekondi, Shiawase was worried about Chairman Demur being the original or another Arislen clone. Further information given by Void before he disappeared into the void of the Matrix (as told by Lauren) included tidbits such as The dragon has an army and Change is coming. To Ma1nfram3's offer of services Void replied The Hand of Dusk must be with you''Only during MMFEC's end-of-episode meeting did they seem to notice that the HOD mentioned in Elijah's files probably stood for this Hand of Dusk.. * Cromwell, posing as Charlie Hammer, and Mordecai, a.k.a Zack Slater, met Bill AkimaSpelling? in his office on the 67th floor of the Shiawase building after Elsie, disguised as Sabrina Green, the employee she had already met on election night, had got stuck on the 13th floor and Cromwell, using a selfie he had just requested from Elsie and using it to make lemonade out of a lemon, had disclosed this fact to a guard a named Michelle and convinced to let him and Cromwell go after the intruder. Bill Akima, an elven mage, got the upper hand in his fight with Mordecai (who, to his dismay, never got the apology he sought and almost got shot by the guard-cum-Arislen-clone also in Akima's office) and his towel. After they mentioned the ''inconsequential (Akima's word) Shasta Shamans as enemies of theirs, Cromwell and Mordecai both convinced Akima, who has an army and needs guards who are quiet and compliant that they could be useful when Cromwell used Elsie's suggestion that he was an infiltrator for the right party. Akima, in exchange for telling them to contact the Hand of Dusk, learned that they had been sent by Elijah Burnett. After warning Mordecai (Do not push your luck) his eyes glazed over and he added Change is coming''Lauren reminded MMFEC that something similar had occurred with Void. he told them to ''get out of my office. One last detail: the guards escorting them out, all Arislen clones, had been operated upon to not look exactly alike. Even though they were still mostly in the dark about the new dragon's goals and were still to pursue the lead about Grace Castillo, they had, by the end of , gathered valuable information for Miss JAnd Lauren thanked the Community for coming out with elements of this plot in the Corporate Metagame.. ]After enquiring about Grace Castillo' early morning training routine, Fang and Elsie went together to the gym at the Aztechnology Pyramid where she had her habits. Both managed to antagonize her very fast, Fang with her attempt at bonding, Elsie's with her pitch to be recruited by HOD. It didn't help that the dwarven lady was clearly on home turf, surrounded by people she had personally trained. Fang got bruises from her rough physical contact, Elsie a headache from her exchange of electric shocks, and both had to leave the Pyramid in a precipitous manner. Fang would not be able to take further advantage of her just-renewed 3-month membership. In addition to clear hints of Grace Castillo's short temper and capabilities as a security consultant, MMFEC got confirmation that Grace Castillo was under the same weird influence they had noticed with her alleged co-conspirators when she said, after HOD was mentioned: He's coming. He will rule.''See . SSN's comprehensive summary of the known links between Prince, HOD and the infiltration of clones as of , starts with this paragraph: ''Reporting and tips have led to some new revelations in the ongoing clone crisis. There seems to be an organization called the “Hand of Dusk” which is behind not only the proliferation and infiltration of clones, but also the summoning of the purple dragon we are calling Prince a few months ago. Sources say this “Hand of Dusk” is some sort of dangerous and deranged dragon cult. What are they up to?''See . This story also calls all, tipsters, corps and citizens to action against what it calls a conspiracy. Grace Castillo was briefly mentioned at the beginning of , during a call between Fang and her brother. Fang's account of her brief meeting with Castillo made him uncomfortable and he hung up on her as soon she mentioned the Hand of Dusk. Assessing the threat HOD returned at the beginning of , with Cromwell dreaming about being yelled at in the army, Grace Castillo and Rahmut being briefly mentioned and Void sending Ma1nfram3 this message: ''We say your performance. You warrantInitially, ''warranted. It was changed after a tenses discussion initiated by Ma1nfram3. Because grammar matters too, not just spelling. further testing. It made Elsie doubt HOD's organizational skills. Ma1nfram3 wondered about challenging HOD's ''Eye of Sauron''Reference to an old trid in the 90's. There are also books. to a staring contest. Mordecai was not interested. That led to a discussion about dragons in general and Cromwell doubting first MMFEC's ability to fight a dragon after he had been nearly killed by a giant bird and second Miss J's interest in keeping them alive while pursuing the Draco Foundation's goals. Elsie's suggestion that they avoid direct combat with HOD was one-upped by Mordecai's that they avoid them entirely. The conversation ultimately turned to Miss J's and MMFEC contacted her. Miss J reiterated Fang's earlier warning that HOD could black-bag Elsie and that she better watch her back if they decided to go after her. Ma1nfram3, Fang and Elsie having signalled they were interested in joining HODIn Elsie's case, her refusal was taken as proof of her interest, because she was a teenager. meant HOD were probably going to continue to pursue them. A hands-on job interview Soon enoughSee ., Miss J.'s prediction seemed to materialize as MMFEC were abducted one by one in a series of deft moves, some of which took place in public spaces, only to wake up in an unknown location: the mere fact that they were still alive and the relatively low level of opposition they faced while regrouping to escape the facility pointed to HOD assessing MMFEC's mettle rather than a real attempt to keep them under lock and key. The episode followed each MMFEC member, switching every few minutes from one to another. The following paragraphs summarize what happened to each. Elsie was taken away after being electrocuted by a machine at the Arcade where she had spent the day. She woke up restrained, and after freeing herself had to deal with two guards in the next room. Lauren used the alarm emitted by Elsie's RFID tag when she was black-bagged as a sign that the five MMFEC members had all been kidnapped at the same time. Cromwell was injected a drug while arguing with a random individual about the latest fashion improvement his new spell had allowed him to perform. He woke up tickled by a few poisonous spiders whose bites dazzled him. He escaped the building through a wall nearby. Fang, returning on foot from a boxing session with friend Alejandro, music blaring through her ears, didn't hear the dart shot between her helmet and armor from a sniper rifle that dropped her unconscious. She woke up surrounded by three mannequins (a.k.a. ''murder robots) that she dispatched, unarmed at first, with help from Ma1nfram3 (as Cheryl remarked at the end of the episode, Fang and Ma1nfram3 both killed 1.5 robot). With little more than 15 minutes left in the episode, Fang was faced with a locked door, which prompted Dan to quip Stay tuned for episode 2''Which Lauren seemed to find rather funny.. Ma1nfram3 was in the middle of a VR DDRA reference to Dance Dance Revolution, a 5th World music video game series by Konami. session when someone approached her, she felt a tap on her shoulder and went unconscious. She woke up link-locked in Hotsim VR, and therefore unable to locate her body in meatspace. However, she soon accessed the local host and used the building's cameras to locate her companions on the two floors of the two-story facility, one by one, and coordinate their efforts. Mordecai was too busy looking for a still-elusive Sharky after finishing his cleansing to hear the car coming on the gravel near his lodge. A very important detail that Lauren insisted upon: Mordecai's kidnappers were kinder to Sc00b13 than they were to Cornbread. Mordecai woke up projected in Astral space, his astral form surrounded by a force 5 mana barrier that prevented him from waking up and returning to his body. Mordecai faced the gravest danger of all when he was attacked by a spirit while damaging the mana barrier on the ground floor that was still separating him from his body (which was still, at the time just ''a sack of nothing). Had he not managed to finish stunbolting the barrier in time, dive into his body and summon Sharky inside him, he would have died from spirit-inflicted stun damage, his astral form disconnected from his body. After Ma1nfram3 urged her companions to follow the Emergency Exit signs and created a good map for them, regrouping and leaving the facility required little more than dispatching a few guards in creative ways, like using a live (not for long), poisonous weapon as a weapon.See . Introduction Right after completing their tests, MMFEC were all contacted by HOD's Bill Akima. Soon afterwards, after contacting Miss J, and pondering how far they would go down that road, and whether dealing with a dragon-worshipping cult went against Never deal with a dragon, they met him. The rendezvous was in the Barrens, in an abandoned parking lot. Bill Akima stepped out of a black van, along with Grace Castillo and two Zorros''If I remember correctly, this term was used before to describe the team that outmaneuvered MMFEC in the Magitek run.. MMFEC finally got to know the name of HOD's head, the dragon they had only known as Prince: Brennus Ciaradh. AkimaAnd/or Castillo. also revealed HOD's goal, namely changing the status quo and giving power back to the people by opposing corporations and policlubs. If MMFEC accepted to work for HOD, they would be contacted when HOD had something for them, and HOD would pay for it. Akima and Castillo met clear hostility from Mordecai, who had openly called them ''dickwads during the initial call and demanded an apologyWhich he didn't get. MMFEC had made the first aggressive move, in HOD's view.; and from Fang, who was still very intent on beating up Castillo and didn't like the part HOD had played in the Hermosillo incident. Cromwell seemed convinced by HOD's objectives and remarked at some point that MMFEC would not have to do work for HOD that went against their values. Elsie tried to understand HOD's views on the Metroplex and its new government. HOD was not interested in taking that down and confirmed MMFEC's interest in working with HOD, even though they had not been really told what kind of work would be expected of them. In Akima's words: You've proven that you're more than adequate. You have not proven your loyalty yet. After this interview, Fang was hungry. Ma1nfram3, who knows places, led MMFEC to a diner. There, Ma1nfram3, not a friend of corporations herself, argued that MMFEC were not particularly moral, and that they had no clearer idea of the motivations of the corporations that usually hired them than they had of HOD's. If anything, HOD has a better record. This led to further discussion with Mordecai and to Fang's conclusion: And then we punch Grace Castillo in the face. The final words of wisdom came from Ma1nfram3: Let's eat these waffles. First mission After a meeting at the Draco Foundation's officeSee . where its head, former UCAS First Lady Nadja Daviar both told MMFEC that the Draco Foundation had to sever their formal business relationship and offered to pay them to secretly share any information about HOD they would gather while working for that mysterious, possibly hostile, organization, MMFEC was contacted by Grace Castillo. When they met in person, Grace Castillo was jogging and protected by a retinue of guards. She was aware that they were free agents again after the Draco Foundation had fired''Mordecai's take on the situation. them. Her first mission for them was to plant a chip in a satellite uplink at a facility of Pacific Rim Communications Unlimited in the Puyallup BarrensSee this discussion including a map showing the places described by Lauren to locate the facility.. Being responsible for running the Matrix in the Metroplex, Pacific Rim would have better than average guard on the site. They had to do this within a week and would have no more than 12 hours to place it once Castillo handed it to them. Payment was agreed on, and MMFEC got ¥25.000 in advance. Preparation had to be, and was, thorough because of the stringent time constraints placed on them. The best time to place the chip would be Friday night between 1:00 AM and 3:00 AM. Miss J asked MMFEC to try the chip on a burner commlink. She was also keen to inspect it in person if need be. Given the extent of Pacific Rim's reach, any damages caused by the chip could potentially impact every Matrix user in the Metroplex. Ma1nfram3 went to Pacific Rims Seattle HQ posing as a job applicant. From a bathroom stallWhere else? ''The bathroom is where the sneaking happens-Lauren, she acquired information from Pacific Rim's HRLamenting the boring corporate host that mimicked a network of cables. At least, they tried. that would allow her and Elsie to impersonate 2 employees. Cromwell would sneak in with them. Fang and Mordecai would intervene, if and when necessary, as Team Distraction™''With Fang going as far as proposing that they fly over the site and be parachuted.. Before leaving the bathroom, Ma1nfram3 also acquired good pictures of a janitor's uniform. Cromwell could use his spell to create good knockoffs from them. Mordecai and Cromwell scouted Pacific Rim's Puyallup site from the Astral Plane. Before retrieving the chip at 4:00 PM on Thursday MMFEC would invade the homes of their two randomIn that Ma1nfram3's choice had been limited to favoring employees with technical positions. The rest had been luck of the draw. targets, Bianca Dupree and William Armando, acquire from them the biometric credentials HR records hadn't possessed, and make sure they didn't interfere with the mission. The carefully elaborated plan was nearly derailed when TwiggyWhom MMFEC had met during the investigations of child disappearances that had led them to the Galahad Academy. contacted Ma1nfram3: she was on her parents' trail and Ma1nfram3 had to come before it went cold. Elsie concurred with Ma1nfram3 that she had no choice. The run would still happen without MMFEC's deckerThe fact that Cheryl would be away for after giving her UXLX presentation in Lisbon may have played a part here... concluded with the actual mid-morning invasion of Armando's apartment. He was asleep after returning from his night shift. Cromwell successfully injected him with Narcojet, Elsie scolded him about a baby he had left her withPrompting this puzzled response: ''Mary?, tookIn the digital sense of the term only. his face and found his badge. Elsie had all she needed to impersonate him. Ma1nfram3 being out of the pictureSee . meant that there was no need to steal another identity. This also meant that MMFEC would not have a look at the chip themselves. MMFEC the put the finishing touches to their plans. Mordecai explained how he and Fang could use Cromwell's Small Motorized AircraftWhich, Tony must explain every time, is not a glider, contrary to what he said the first time he mentioned it, and only the first time. to fly over the site until they were needed below. Then Mordecai would be able to levitate the two of them and have SharkyUsing Sharky meant that sunset time needed to be kept track of. conceal them for as long as needed. Elsie would use her credentials to enter in time for the beginning of William ArmandoHe was referred to only as William during the episode. I will do the same.'s shift at 7:00 PM. Cromwell would find a way to sneak in. It was not entirely clear when the other two teams would enter. It was still necessary to arrange a discreet rendezvous with Miss J. Rather than heed Fang's suggestion that involved vehicle jumping on the way, Miss J agreed with Mordecai, who once again again startled her from the Astral Plane, to meet at the Soybucks in Kent they already knew. The same need for discretion urged Elsie to encrypt her coms from then on. Elsie also checked Cromwell's costumes. Just before leaving to meet Grace Castillo at the 3:00 PM appointment they had arranged, MFEC decided to use their motorcycles rather than a van. During their brief meeting, Castillo pulled the chip out of a device and explained that the attempt she knew they would do to read the chip would be a waste of time. Such talk fed Fang's temptation to hit Castillo on the face, even more than Scarlet Fyre. The latter had at least managed to actually prove they were better than MMFEC. The next stop was at the Soybucks. Cromwell flew the chip to Miss J on the back of his eye drone from a distance. Whatever effort she may have put into it, Miss J was not good at sneaking. The drone came back with a note: Miss J had not risked decrypting the chip but had still managed to place a sprite on it. This could be useful to track its effects. MFEC still had to decide whether they'd go through the Puyallup BarrensWhich, Lauren explained, were the result of a massive eruption of Mount Rainier. on the main roads or smaller ones. Fang looked at the mapMaybe this one., and chose the latter option. This decision led to an impromptu meeting with hidden caltrops that punctured three of the bikes' four tires. Their owners, two orks and two trolls with a big gun on their van, amicably proposed to relieve MFEC of their possessions. The interview ended in a courteous manner, the Night Prowlers leaving the scene peacefully after Fang successfully intimidated them with a Robin Hood speech. It was 5:00 PM and MFEC were stuck in the Barrens, 30 km away from their objective, with two crippled motorbikes and no spare tires. After Elsie briefly considered stopping the next vehicle, Mordecai summoned Land Sharky. With four favors, he increased the running speed of the four MMFEC members presentIn Mordecai's case, to 115 km/h.. Cromwell left the bikes, protected by a trap that would blow would-be thieves to smithereens. He would have had fun seeing his velocity displayed on a road sign, but in this area there were none left standing, and they were redecorated with gang signsOn this subject: Claudia got Lauren to say: There is always at least one penis., and sigh.. Once they were close enough to the site, they landed Cromwell's plane. With Mordecai and Fang on board, it was programmed by CromwellWho had also locked its controls: with Mordecai not touching them anyway and Fang not entirely convinced that her skills as a tank pilot didn't make her a plane pilot as well, there was little choice. to circle high over the siteHow stealthy it was remained unclear. Tony's book only described as the stealthiest plane., with a window for its passengers to jump every 15 minutes from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM, at which time it would land in the Barrens. It would come back for another pass later. Of particular interest to Mordecai, the sun would set at around 8:00 PM on this AprilApproximately three weeks having passed since the end of their previous run. day. Elsie approached the gate on her own, observing the 5mOr, in an alternative unit, 2-Cromwell--high fence, learning as she went that employees came to work through the Barrens in gang-proof vans. She had to fool biometric scanners and convince inquisitive guardsWhich took thumper dice rolling and edge burning.. She also had to pass as WilliamWho would be asleep for the whole duration of the run., which meant she didn't have the luxury of seeming lost in this unknown place. She was supposed to know its procedures and William's work routine. At least the three buildings topped with satellite dishes where visible from afar. Once in the main building, it still took her half an hour to find the security hub. It seemed like the very design of the building was meant to be disorienting. You are late. This is your first infraction., a computer voice notified her when she swiped her badge. She persuaded the guy in charge to show her where she was supposed to go: Satellite 1 after learning she was supposed to have asked JoeThis name comes back later. about changing posts. Only when the scanner at the door of the satellite-dish building with a 1 on it rejected her did she realize that "Satellite 1" referred to a security outpost elsewhere, rather than the "Uplink 1" where she currently was. After a short talk with a guy in a lab coat, she reported for work, knowing that she would have to come back and go past this scanner later to place the chip. She was soon dispatched to the area were the hellhounds were raising hell. This gave her an opportunity to contact Cromwell and tell him, in code, that a patrol was onto him. Doing William's duty, having an awkward conversation with a man he may have dated, made her empathize with him, realize that she could do some good and not just land him in trouble. In that spirit, she waited until her 30-minute lunch break, just before 01:00 AMRoughly halfway into her 13-hour shift., to return to Uplink 1. Mordecai, though hindered by the background count, perceived spirits and awakened creatures from his aerial position. He also recognized Elsie's signature as she entered the site. NoiseBoth background count and noise fluctuated between 3 and 4 on and over the site. didn't prevent commlink use. Fang rolled badly on stealth, causing the plane to sputter. Though they couldn't know it at the time, there was no evidence later that they had been detected. Sharky disappeared during the commotion caused by Cromwell's hellhounds as the sun set. It was as good a time as ever for the airborne pair to make their move. Mordecai summoned Mega Sharky, who made them vanish, then cast manascape so that he and Fang would look like birdsBut not ostriches. in the Astral Plane. They leapt out of the plane, holding hands, and he cast Levitate during their fall. He could sustain the spellOr, rather, the spells, as Mordecai later revealed that he had cast two separate Levitate spells and they would technically not have needed to keep holding hands all the time. Therefore, Fang could use Elsie's sniper rifle, which she had with her, should the need arise. for as long as needed. Only when they were trying to decide precisely over which part of the site to stay did they realize that Ma1nfram3 had not retrieved any information about the site's security during her investigation. As time passed, they had to roll to make sure they remained stealthy. Mordecai remarked that he had assumed no one would look up. While Elsie and Cromwell were trying to enter Uplink 1, Mordecai started levitating a grenade above the North Tower after establishing it could be detonated remotely. Cromwell snuck past spirits which were each monitoring a section of the parameter, looking for the longest stretch between two guard towers. He was also aware of the presence of motion detectors. He hatched, then executed, a plan that would let him climb the fence while carrying an awakened animal that would help disguise his own astral signature. Long story short, starting at around 07:45 PM, he captured a pup from a pack of eight hellhounds, let the fire-breathingTo Fang's concern that Cromwell was allergic to fire after being badly burnt in the past Lauren replied: You're all allergic to fire!. Dan added that fire allergy actually exists in Shadowrun.hellhounds pursue him at the distance he chose, fended off the labrador-sized baby's own fire-breathing at the cost of singed eyebrowsWhich scene got Mordecai/Dan to quip: I just hope... I just hope the Hand of Dusk really appreciates the quality, professional work that they're outsourcing. Lauren went with it, describing with expletives how a Hunger Games-like crowd was watching them through a drone., succumbed to fear after hearing the pack's howlsThese howls were only for effect. Hellhounds cause fear because of their size and glowing red eyes, not their howls. and dropped the pup outside after climbing the fence. Six of the hellhounds were shot dead as they were trying to climb the fenceOnly two pups stayed behind and were spared.. The alarm their presence raised didn't extend to the whole site, though. Just before 01:00 AM Cromwell found his way to Uplink1, with Elsie's help. Elsie's plan was to pick the lockShe realized her badge's RFID chip would set off motion sensors in a building William was not supposed to enter. and let Cromwell place the chip. He could blend in as long as he didn't have to talk. After 10 minutes, Elsie struck a conversation about Bianca Dupree with a man in coverall who was about to enter the building. Though she failed to palm his badge despite the distraction provided by Cromwell's convincing troll fart sound, she did convince him that sheOr, rather, William. was in love with Bianca and kept talking as they entered the building together. Cromwell discreetly followed suit after the shuriken he threw managed to block the door long enough for him to enter. Elsie gave him the chip before heading back to Satellite 1. Cromwell managed to remain stealthy while following a dwarf to a large, circular control room full of servers. There he soon found the data jack into which he was to plug in HOD's chip. It was 01:05 when MMFEC mission was accomplished and Cromwell was noticed and recognizedHis fart having made lasting impression.. The moving story of how he had become just a cleaner, mister was not convincing enough and he was led out of the building by security forces, which, all things considered, was mostly what he wanted.Thus concluded . After Fang deftly managed to get Cromwell to discreetly signal that he needed a distractionThe trick, that relied on the homophonic Y'' and ''Why?, escaped the guards and also Mordecai., Mordecai dropped the levitating grenade on the Northern Satellite... with little bang for the buck: all smoke, no noise. Fang upped the ante by stunning a guard with her Sticker Shock, thus allowing Cromwell to feign electric shock, wave his arms, and hit the guard himself. Fang was able to remain stealthyBecause, as she said about the guards They're not that smart (to look up where the hits come from). while stunning the guard who was trying to stop Cromwell on his way to the top of the nearest wall. The weak barrier cast by Mordecai was enough to protect him from the only bullet he didn't dodge. Fang and Mordecai managed to leave the scene unseen, while Elsie stayed until William's shift was over.This ending felt a little rushed. It was not meant to be the focus of . Fang, Mordecai and Cromwell returned to the spot where they had left their two bikes. They found them mostly intact except that Elsie's, which was not protected like Cromwell's, was missing a few parts. They had three hours to chill out before Elsie's return and another four until their cab came. The ensuing "discussion" about Cromwell having won his bet with Fang, as he had managed not to soil his clothes with blood for a weekMore on this to come soon on a different page. Stay tuned., concluded MMMFEC's first mission for HOD. Despite Pacific Rim's attempts to quash emerging rumors about their successfulOr at least acceptable, in Grace Castillo's words. infiltration, MMFEC got full payment (another ¥15,000 each) from HOD as well as from the Draco Foundation (¥7,000 each). The SSN got wind of these events and mentioned them in 's City News. Second mission Little after the chain of events that led to Cromwell's death, MMFEC were contacted by HOD's Castillo and offered a new mission. HOD needed them and other runners to help defend a facility in the Redmond Barrens from gang attacks. MMFEC would get the coordinates the next day, just in time to get there before the group of people HOD thought would be attacked arrived. The pay was ¥25,000 per person. MMFEC took the job, if only to retrieve information for Miss J. They had time to dig information about their allies in the mission: Calista's five runners and Artemis Blue's two: good reputations, less notoriety than MMFEC, no wet work for Artemis Blue; a squishy lot with little muscle. It turned out later that Calista was the group hired to confront MMFEC and free Granny Powell from Aztechnology's blood ritual during the Hermosillo VITAS outbreak. Castillo's reluctance to brief MMFEC about their fellow runners proved wise when MMFEC discussed turning them against HOD. When MMFEC arrived at the site, they saw a person in full Zorro suite talking to the other groups's leaders. They split the twenty or so Arislen clones also on site between them and took their positions. There were three buildings, one larger than the other two. The two turrets and large number of smartlinked guns Ma1nfram3 saw in the Matrix confirmed that HOD had indeed provided their own muscle. MMFE and the other runners took positions on the buildings' roofs. A large group of mages arrived in three vans, escorted by motorcycles and entered the large building, a stripped warehouse. Mordecai understood they were here for ritual. Soon after, noise increased and they all became dual natured: the mages had opened an astral rift. The noise, it was strongly suggested, was caused by the chip Cromwell had plugged to a satellite in their first mission. It prevented nonlocal communication. Groups of bikers arrived from north and south, as well as from the forests to the west and east. In a fight where dice rolls were limited, they took a hard pummeling from the combined forces of Ma1nfram3's heavily armed Dynah and the mages present. Meanwhile, a hidden sniper started felling their allies one by one before turning her (if Elsie's hunch that it was Becky was correct) sight to Elsie and Fang, who had to resort to using edge and thumper dice to stay alive. The session concluded with the enemy forces cut in half and two Calista runners down.See . When it turned out that HOD had been infiltrated by Scarlet Fyre, the new priority for HOD was for MMFEC to go after them. Cromwell had already killed Scarlet Fyre's leader, Rebecca a.k.a Becky, by that time. MMFEC ended up meeting Scarlet Fyre, with help from former member Lottie Sokolov. What they were told about HOD's agenda as well as that of the bunch of corps that had hired Scarlet Fyre led MMFEC to take their own course: they would try to both let Scarlet Fyre prevent Brennus Ciaradh from reaching the space station he had successfully put in orbit, thus foiling HOD's plans; and find a way to sabotage the space station, thus preventing any corps from commandeering it for their own nefarious purposes. Sending a picture of Becky's corpse was MMFEC's last, fake, display of loyalty to HOD. After that, they unilaterally aborted their mission with HOD.See . The Dusk of the Hand After the disappearance of Ciaradh in the astral rift he had entered to reach his space station, The Hand of Dusk was dissolved. Bill Akima and Grace Castillo retained their jobs with their corporate employers.See the epilogue of . Category:Organizations Category:NPCs